February/March 1982 RAIN Page 15 ACCESS SOLAR Solarizing Your Present Home: Practical Solar Heating Systems You Can Build, Edited by Joe Carter, 1981, 671 pp., $24.95 from: Rodale Press 33 East Minor Street Emmaus, PA 18049 Rodale Press went out and got over fifty people with hands-on experience with solar retrofits to talk about different active and passive solar options for space and water heat, along with their personal sagas of adventure on the soft frontier. The result is the best book to date on what your options are and how to do it right. Geared for the beginning to intermediate do-it-yourselfer, it begins with a good discussion on energy flows and conservation, then launches into a series of projects ranging from insulating curtains to extensive remodels. Some of the material is taken from Rodale's excellent New Shelter magazine. Smaller projects are laid out well enough to do straight from the book. Anyone contemplating a major project would do well to look at some of the books listed in the bibliographies at the back of each section. Even more valuable is the listing of materials sources for each project. It is inevitable that a book with this many diverse people and projects will have a few debatable points (for example, I question the wisdom and durability of using wood framing for the flat plate collector design that is outlined). Overall though. Solarizing Your Present Home is a great leap forward for solar accessibility. —Kevin Bell Solar Electricity: Making the Sun Work for You, by the technical staff of Mone- gon. Ltd., 1981,23 pp., $10 from: Monegon, Ltd. 4 Professional Drive, Suite 130 Gaithersburg, MD 20760 The use of photovoltaic (PV) systems has been slow to spread in this country due to the high initial cost of PV cells. With improved purification techniques for silicon cells the cost is coming down and PV arrays are expected to sprout like sunflowers in sunny meadows. This has brought a rash of new literature on the subject. This one, from a company that sells PV equipment, is an introduction to PV including historical usage, current technology, systems concepts, economics, and tax incentives. Although much of the book seems to be marketing propaganda. COOLING LMT FOR .4 H.4T t >. PATENT 3.353.191 ISiNl ED TO HAROLD «. DaHLI. 21 NO\ EMBER 1967 GOLF-BALL WARMER l .S. PATENT 3.497.676 ISM ED TO KENNETH « . GRaA ATT. 24 FF.BRl AR3 1970. Dahly must have had the term “keeping a cool head" in mind when he invented this 'olar>pov>ered cooling unit for a hat. In his device, sunlight strikes solar cells 119i and an electnc current i- produced. Thi- current is used to drive a 'mall electric motor i I6i. which, in turn, rotate- fan i I8i. Cooling air is then forced through -creen i29i to cool the hai vsearer's head. Though this i» an eccentric device, the -vstem could be pul to more practical use where a small cooling fan is needed. REVERSIBLE SL MMER VnNTER COVER FOR BEEHIVES l .$. PATENT 2.399.141 ED TO MERRITT 1. TA3LOR. 3 Jl NE 1952. Even one's golf game can be improved bv using -olar energy As mo-t golfer- know, golf bails travel farther when the> are warmed. In Gravatt's device golf hall- are placed in pocket- i6U). <61i. and i62> and a top cover i21l is closed over them to form a sealed air space. A transparent outer cover allow, sunlight to enter the chambers surrounding the balls to warm them. The entire device can be mounted on the outvide of a golf bag for maximum exposure to the sun. Insects and animals are just as affected bv heat and cold a> are hu Taylor's invention utilite- solar energy to keep beehive- cool in summer and warm in winter. The outer covering i- rever-ible. On one -ide 11.3i i- a reflective material used in summer to reduce heat in the hive. In winter, lacing 111) is removed and the cover i- turned in-ide-out to expo-e the reverse tide (14). which is a dark, absorbing material that rai>e- the hive temperature. From: 101 Patented Solar Energy Uses sections on how a cell works, explaining how much electricity is produced under varying conditions, make the book worth reading for someone considering photovoltaics. —Gail Katz 101 Patented Solar Energy Uses, Compiled by Daniel J. O'Connor, 1981,110 pp., $8.95 from: Van Nostrand Reinhold 135 West 50th Street New York, NY 10020 This is sort of an odd one. Fodder for thought, perhaps. These patents, which date from 1901 to 1979, span the spectrum from eminently practical to remotely curious to just plain weird. Whether it's a solar-powered toy boat you're after, or a solar-actuated umbrella-raising mechanism, a cocoon sun sweat suit, or a solar golf ball warmer-upper, you can count on good 'ole Yankee ingenuity to come up with a patent for it. —MR Passive Solar Journal, quarterly, $20/ year (AS of ISES members), $80/year (non-members and institutions), from: American Section of the International Solar Energy Society 110 West 34th Street New York, NY 10001 The Passive Systems Division of AS of ISES now has its own publication. Judging from the first issue (January 1982) and its statement of purpose, the journal will be devoted to research articles. Passive solar is a relatively young field, so basic research is still revealing significant practical information. The hands-on nuts-and-bolts results of this research should increasingly filter down to more practical publications, now that the results of basic research are being widely disserninated. Unfortunately, the $80/year price tag and the somewhat esoteric orientation of this journal put it beyond the reach of many. —Gail Katz
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